English III

What is passive voice?

The passive voice consists on a form of the verb to
be, and the past participle.
Example:
object

verb

agent

The boy was helped by Mary.

Using the passive

Look at the following examples:
agent

verb

object

Active: Mary helped the boy.

Passive: the boy was helped by Mary.

object

verb

agent

In the passive, the object of an active voice becomes the

subject of the passive verb.

When do we use the passive voice?

We use the passive when we are more interested
in the action than the agent of the action. This
happens because:
We dont know the agent.

Example: my camera was stolen yesterday. (=I

dont know who stole it).
When the agent is obvious, we normally omit it.
Example: Charles has been arrested [by the police]

The agent is not relevant.

Example: The school is cleaned every day. (=it

doesnt matter who cleans it. It could be different
people every day.)
When the agent is relevant or important, we use by+
agent at the end of the sentence.
Example: Hamlet was written by Shakespeare.
The subject is something that is not an agent.

Example: Television was invented in the 20th

century.
The radio was invented by Marconi

 We also use the passive voice with a personal

subject when the subject is not the agent of the
action.
Examples:
John was given a digital camera (= John is not the
agent here: he did not give anything. He received
was given- a digital camera)
Models are paid a lot of money. (=Models are not
the agents here: they do not pay any money. They
receive it are paid.)

Form

We form the passive voice with be +past participle.

Passive

Form

Example

Present
simple

is/ are + past participle

The iPod is manufactured by Apple

Present
continuous

is/ are + being +past

participle

That song is being played the

whole day.

Past
simple

was/were + past participle

The iPod was launched in 2002

Past
continuous

was/ were + being +past

participle

The doors were being painted

before Christmas.

Will

will+ be+ past participle

The boxes will be delivered

tomorrow.

Going to

is/ are + going to be +past

participle

A new agreement is going to be

signed tomorrow.

Present
perfect

has/have been + past

participle

Thousands of gyms have been

opened all over the world.

References
Collier

Macmillan English Program (1980). A

Practical English Grammar. USA: Macmillan.
Palencia del Burgo, R. (2009) Tune in Language
Reference. Mexico: Richmond.
Scharampfer, B. (1999). Understanding and using
English Grammar. (3rd ed.) New Jersey: Pearson
Education.